


Chitter and Chatter.

by whimsicalmuffinman



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Awkward Kissing, Bad Jokes, Bad Puns, Chocobos, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn, This is like the second longest oneshot I've written and it's sickeningly sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000, i love them, over 10k of toothrotting fluff, they both hesitate a lot because they're afraid of chasing each other off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 12:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11555427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsicalmuffinman/pseuds/whimsicalmuffinman
Summary: Vincent hears word during one of his hunting trips that Cloud hasn't hear news around the chocobo ranch for quite a long time, so Vincent decides to ask him if he'd like to change that. Perhaps at the same time, Vincent could confront some of the complex feelings he felt towards Cloud as well.





	Chitter and Chatter.

Vincent found himself wondering a lot if Cloud had given up on the sort of things he'd enjoyed so much when they'd first met. It had taken him a long time to figure out why he would deny himself of them (a few years, actually), but it eventually did clear up some for him once he started spending more time with him after the ordeal with the meteor and Sephiroth and Jenova had finally settled down some. He'd learned a lot about Cloud, though it was like pulling teeth because he liked to try and close himself off from everyone. Vincent never tried to pry it, though, just waiting with open arms until Cloud needed someone's help and he was able to admit that to himself.

Cloud didn't talk to him much, in fact, Vincent was sure Cloud probably knew twice as much about him as he knew about Cloud. It wasn't really a secret, his resentment for Hojo and his relationship with Lucretia. (For a long time, it was the only thing he'd permitted himself to think about, so talking about it came almost second nature.) Not to mention Cloud seemed confused at best at his own history, so that did nothing to help him talk about it.

Vincent had spent a lot of time thinking about it, actually, more than he probably should. He'd come to learn that the best way to know who Cloud was, was to pay attention to how he acted, instead of how he spoke. He was for the most part, closed off, but Cloud had a mischievous streak for sure. He couldn't count how many times the younger man had said something smart-ass in response to something he'd said.

It was refreshing, honestly, the others sort of treated him like he was fragile or like he was going to snap. The ones who didn't were Cloud and Yuffie, though Yuffie was, in large part, only that way because she may maybe still too naive to recognize her own self-centeredness. Not that it was a bad thing, but Vincent found it sort of hard to open up to her about anything too serious.

Cloud, on the other hand, would give him shit and do things to mess with him. It wasn't always pleasant, but it was... humanizing. Maybe Cloud understood better than everyone else how it felt to need something like that, something to make you feel less alien. Vincent couldn't quite place how he felt towards Cloud. It wasn't helping him to explain how he felt when they had sort of stumbled into the we're-not-quite-dating-but-sometimes-we-snuggle-and-then-don't-talk-about-it-because-talking-about-feelings-is-hard stage of their relationship. Vincent didn't know how to explain the feelings there any more than he was very deeply attached and cared for Cloud, and he liked to have him around. He enjoyed the company, and the affection was nice too.

Perhaps that was why he wondered so much about why Cloud seemed to let the things he enjoyed fall to the wayside, because he was, at this point, very invested in his friend's life.

He was still thinking about it when he eventually reached for his (new) phone and rang Cloud. He was, so far, one of two numbers that he had saved into his phone, the other being Tifa, who had become a close friend in her own right.

A friend of a different sort though, she was reliable and solid, and she always seemed to know how to handle herself and anything thrown at her. Also, if anyone out of their avalanche group who could kick his ass when he needed it, it was her, though she was simultaneously gentle and friendly. He was thankful for her every day, who knew if Vincent would have been able to make it through their initial trip if it hadn't been for her level-head at a critical moment the first time he'd transformed into something inhuman. Cloud hadn't been long to calm down, either, but Vincent was pretty sure he'd scared the shit out of him the first time he turned into a big purple monster.

Somewhere, in the middle of his introspection, Cloud had answered, and said hello twice before Vincent finally caught up with himself and came back into the moment.

"Vincent Valentine, I swear to whatever god there is that if you butt-dialed me I'm coming to your apartment and kicking your ass."

"No. Sorry. I wanted to ask you something." Vincent managed finally, blinking slowly down at the picture he'd been given recently one of his few ventures out of Kalm. The picture had been the thing to prompt this line of thought in the first place, he'd gotten news that he'd wanted to share with Cloud pertaining to something he'd used to love.

"What is it?" Cloud asked, the tone changing slightly, sounding a bit more serious.

"Do you remember your chocobo?"

There was a long, long pause before Cloud actually responded to him.

"You called me to ask about a chocobo? It's like 1 AM." Vincent glanced at his clock, seeing that this was true, humming.

"You were asleep?"

"... No, I... I was trying to though." Cloud grumbled. Vincent had a feeling that he had been upset because he'd had to get out of bed, not that he'd been sleeping. He didn't sound like he'd been asleep either. "What's wrong with her?" There was a very, very slight hint of concern in his voice.

"I think, perhaps, we should pay her a visit."

"Is... Is she ok?"

"Yes, she's fine. I've heard from the owner of the ranch that we may want to see her, though. She's your bird, I thought you might want to hear that the invitation was extended."

"Vincent." Cloud said, his voice stern. "You suck at hiding shit. What's wrong?"

"Cloud, please believe me when I say nothing is wrong."

Cloud grunted through the line, and there was the sound of him shifting positions. Vincent could almost picture him giving the phone a skeptical look before he spoke again.

"I take it back, if there's something wrong with my bird I'm going to  _kick your ass_." Cloud's voice wasn't angry or concerned this time, his tone was a little more relaxed, and Vincent felt a strange, bubbly feeling at the thought that Cloud had trusted him enough to take him at his word on it. As per usual, he ignored this feeling, there didn't need to be more thought on it than he'd already given it.

"Shall we go tomorrow?"

"Yeah. You'd best get some rest, though, I'm not going to drag your ass out of bed." there was humor in his voice, though Vincent picked up on the fact that he was actually beginning to sound tired.

"I'll be up." Vincent reassured, and received another sleepy noise from the other side. "You should get some rest as well."

"Y'gonna call me again if I get into bed?" Cloud laughed and Vincent could tell when he yawned, despite the fact that he turned away from the receiver.

"I won't, don't worry." 

"I'm always going to worry about you, Vin. Sleep tight, ok?" Vincent opened his mouth to say something, he found that his throat had tightened slightly and he warmth spreading on his cheeks. He was going to ignore that as well.

"You too." He managed eventually and quickly hung up before Cloud could ask him why his voice had cracked.

\---

Vincent drug himself out of bed early, he made sure to. He'd been having trouble dragging himself out of bed the entire time since he'd woken up in Nibelheim, but he had a reason to get up that day. (He hated to admit it, but his excitement to see his friend was more of what was driving him than the trip.) He'd sat down on the balcony of his apartment, his cloak clutched close to him to fight the creeping chill of the morning in Kalm.

He wasn't waiting long for Cloud to show up, Fenrir sounding especially loud in the silence of the Kalm morning. It was always this quiet this early in the morning, it made for peaceful sleep, though he had to admit that even when the town came to life he had no issues with sleeping until the late afternoon. He didn't need to sleep, but it was a habit to sleep the way a human did. Cloud slowed to a stop, glancing up at Vincent on the balcony and giving him a warm smile as he received a slow blink in response.

"You look like you haven't gotten a wink of sleep."

"I slept four hours or so."

"Mmm." Cloud hummed, it was normal. "You're going to have to ride bitch, hope you don't mind." Vincent sighed.

"Cloud, I can drive a motorcycle."

"You can drive a motorcycle so long as it's not  _my_  motorcycle." Cloud corrected. "You're not touching Fenrir with anything but your ass."

Vincent snorted, displeased, but he really should have known better. He gave up a lot of things he liked, but Fenrir wasn't one of those. Vincent slowly got up to his feet, slipping over the railing of his balcony and jumping down to the first floor without much concern, it wasn't like he could really hurt himself by breaking his legs or anything, his bones would knit very quickly. Plus a one story jump was next to nothing.

 

Cloud watched him, the usual stony expression resting on his features, though there was just a slight hint of a smile on his lips. Vincent had to wonder if he was excited to see his chocobos again. As far as he knew, it had been years since he'd actually seen them because he had been haunting Edge and the ruins of Midgar since their initial adventure had ended, though Vincent couldn't have said why. He knew that Cloud loved chocobos-- it was hard for him to hide it when he was around them, and the birds seem to love Cloud in return triple fold. The only thing that seemed to rival that kinship was the large birds absolute hatred of Vincent. He couldn't recall a time that he'd been around them that he hadn't wound up having his hair pulled or being chased around by one of the, as he saw them, rather aggressive birds. (He supposed he just didn't have the same sort of luck with them that Cloud did.

"C'mon slowpoke, we should head out sooner rather than later."Cloud said playfully, and Vincent smiled, it definitely seemed like he was getting excited. Cloud hoisted his leg over the seat of the motorcycle, patting the space on the seat behind him. "It's going to be kind of a tight squeeze, I hope you don't mind."

Vincent nodded, following his lead and sliding onto the seat behind his friend. It was definitely a tight squeeze for two broad chested grown ass men, but Cloud didn't seem to mind it and Vincent was content to lean against Cloud's back and get a little bit more sleep on the drive. It was going to be maybe an hour or so, so there was plenty of time to sleep, but Cloud wasn't about to let that happen.

"Vin, you're not holding on securely enough. I don't want to drag your ass out of the dirt if you go falling off." Cloud sighed, turning slightly to face him, reaching behind towards Vincent's hands and urging them towards his sides.

"Are you serious?" Vincent didn't whine. He groused, but he didn't whine. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable clinging onto him when he wasn't sure what he was feeling and he wasn't sure what Cloud was feeling either. It didn't seem to matter to Cloud, though, because he urged Vincent to hold his waist like it was nothing, despite the fact the Vincent was considerably larger than him and was fully capable of snapping him in half underneath his fingers if he transformed.

"If you're going to be sleeping, you have to have a good grip on me because  _I'm not going to drag your ass out of the dirt today_." Cloud insisted, and though it took another moment, Vincent sighed and shifted closer to him, gripping him around the waist tightly and promptly plopping his head down on his shoulder to get back to sleep. "And tie your hair up. I'm sure you don't want it getting tangled to all hell."

Vincent let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and then he shifted upward again, digging into his pants pockets for a few moments before finding the ribbon he used to tie his hair back with when he was out hunting. He noticed Cloud smirking at him as he wrapped the satin ribbon around his hair and tied it off sloppily because he was tired and lazy.

"Trying to avoid a status today, huh? What do you have planned for this trip?" He glanced at him with a smirk.

"It's all I have. Are you going to drive or not?" Vincent huffed, slumping back forward against his back and trying to avoid being looked at. He could recall getting teased for wearing the same kind of ribbon that Aeris had when they were on their adventure, but since her passing, the others had taken to wearing one as well, though he was still one of the only ones to wear it in his hair from time to time-- even Tifa didn't care to tie her hair up in bows. He missed Aeris. Everyone did, he was sure.

"It looks nice." Cloud said softly, shifting and lifting up the kickstand and pulling the bike forward and Vincent readjusted his grip on Cloud's waist, leaning forward and resting against his back.

"Thank you." Vincent hummed softly. Cloud was a very capable driver when he wasn't in a rush, so it wasn't hard for Vincent to fall into another shallow sleep.

\---

"Hey, Vincent, we're here." Cloud's voice was gentle, but it was his shifting that eventually managed to stir Vincent. Vincent slowly blinked his eyes, staring up a Cloud and wondering for a moment how long he'd been asleep and where he was. He also wondered why he was snuggled up next to Cloud. It wasn't until he processed what was being said that he remembered what was going on.

"Mmmn." He really tried to form words, he really, really did, but it didn't come out as anything more than a grunt. Cloud not-so-subtly bit back a smile as he looked at the sleepy expression staring back at him.

"Come on, you drug yourself out of bed once, you can do it again." Cloud shifted his shoulder again, trying to shake Vincent loose from his shoulder. "I'm not going to sit here and be your pillow all day." Vincent grunted, moving his head slowly off his shoulder and releasing the death-grip he had on Cloud's shirt. Cloud was contented with this, knocking the kickstand back into place with his boot and sliding off the bike sideways, reaching for Vincent's metal hand and urging him up with a rough yank. Vincent voiced his displeasure with another sleepy groan that was meant to be words.

"You're not going to sleep through the whole day, you're the one who invited me out, so act interested at least. What sort of person makes a date and then grumbles the whole time about being tired?"

That caught Vincent's attention.

"Date?" He muttered. It really didn't come off as a question like he'd hoped it would, because Cloud opted to just shrug in response and shake his head while he drug Vincent along by the metal of his hand.

It really didn't take that long to get to the ranch from the area where he'd parked, it just felt like a mile long walk because Vincent was tired, the silence was awkward, and there wasn't anything around but the ranch in front of then and a solid several miles of grassland and mountains on either side. Vincent tottered along behind him as quickly has he could, but he was sure he could feel Cloud speeding up the closer that they got, his demeanor seemed to shift, the tense line of his shoulder seemed to relax and he moved more easily. He may have realized how excited his friend was if he wasn't focused on trying to move his feet fast enough to keep up without tripping over his own shoes.

When he was tired, he was about the farthest thing from graceful.

They managed it, though, and as they stepped underneath the archway entrance to the farm, Choco Bill and his grandson glanced up from feeding the birds to greet them warmly, all smiles and laughter. Conversation between Cloud and them flowed naturally, but Vincent was too tired to make an effort to keep up with it.

"Is ol' Vinny over there doing alright? He's no chatterbox, but he usually says more than he has today." Bill seems humored, and Vincent was sure that he was reflecting on their phone conversation the previous week which had consisted mostly of responsive grunts and one word answers.

"He's not awake yet." Cloud laughed. Bill laughed right along with Cloud. Vincent was pretty well awake now, he just didn't have the energy yet to put forth the effort to interject. It was about the point when he was waking up that Tifa used to bring him coffee to motivate him or Yuffie would start to talk his ear off until he became responsive.

"'M fine." Vincent reassured, glancing at Bill. "Too early." Cloud nudged him.

"It was your idea to come this early." Cloud reminded pointedly. Vincent didn't respond. Mostly because he was feeling petty, but partially because he knew Cloud was absolutely correct.

"Right, you boys probably want to get to the real reason you came here rather than talking to me." Bill said, and he signaled for them to follow him as he turned toward the stables and beginning to walk. Cloud, who Vincent only just realized still was holding onto his hand, urged him forward again as he tailed the older gentleman. Vincent thought about the point of contact and felt himself beginning to fluster again as the insistent thoughts rang in the back of his head asking him what the fuck all of this was and nearly screaming at him that he was heading down the same rabbit hole that he had with Lucretia.

He tried his best to ignore that, this wasn't about him, it was about him trying to make sure that Cloud was taking care of himself. Cloud gave and gave so much that he didn't leave enough for himself, Vincent wasn't stupid. He saw how much Cloud tried to act aloof for the sake of his friends, but if Vincent felt like he needed to support Cloud for as much as he'd supported him-- he needed to return the favor. Vincent still recalled the day that Cloud had been so genuinely surprised that Vincent had cared about what happened to the planet. He still remembered Cloud telling him that he was cold.

He'd spent a lot of time thinking about it. He didn't really want to be cold, but he didn't know how not to be anymore. He was trying to work on it, he was trying to care more-- or rather, to seem a little more like he cared as much as he actually did.

Cloud's grip tightened on his fingers as they got closer to the bird pens, pulling Vincent out of his thoughts again. Cloud had a way of doing that, thankfully because Vincent's trend was towards retreating into his head when he didn't know what else to do with himself. It was a gentle reminder on Cloud's part for Vincent to stop living in the past and be present, though it was debatable whether Cloud was aware of what he was doing or not. Vincent noticed that he looked a little apprehensive, and Vincent was reminded that Cloud was still left in the dark about the reason that they were here. Vincent slipped his fingers free of the hold that Cloud had on them, placing a reassuring hand against the space between his shoulders.

There was a quick glance exchanged between them, and Vincent tried to convey to Cloud that he was alright, that things were ok, that there wasn't anything to worry about, but he wasn't sure that the message came through. Vincent wasn't telepathic.

They stepped into the stable and the smell of chocobos permeated the air, enough that Vincent had to force himself not to turn himself around and get away from the smelly birds. It certainly smelled like a stable, to say the least. There were a few birds still nestled up into their bedding, most probably wild rehabilitation animals that had been hurt by the monsters and that Bill was tending to. In large, most of the chocobos were out in the fields though to graze.

"Come with me, she's in the other half of the barn." Bill began, walking to a great set of doors, operating a few of the levers that were holding the doors closed and pushing them open for the three of them to pass. "She's been staying here since she's started nesting-- your bird likes to get into trouble, so it wasn't like we were fixin' to have this happen."

Cloud halted in his movement on the other side of the door, giving Bill a rightly puzzled look before he looked up and scanned the room for his bird. The room was dim-- seemingly reliant on lamp-light as many places had switched back to while the world scrambled to figure out how to produce light without the extensive use of electricity.

Cloud inhaled as he nearly tore off his glove, reaching his fingers up to his mouth and doing the characteristic whistle that he'd taken to so long ago to call his birds, all while Bill worked to begin to light the room. There was a rustling, and then the rushed patter of Chocobo footsteps before the massive, golden-y bird barreled into the pair at full tilt, knocking them both over and kneeling next to Cloud, excitedly chirping and kweh-ing and preening his hair.

"Uggggh. Good to see you're still an asshole." Cloud grunted, sitting up from the dirt and starting to dust off the loose pieces of bedding while the bird continued to make pleased noises at him, ruffling his hair with it's beak. Cloud always had been loved by chocobos. Vincent was still staring blankly at the ceiling, trying to process how he'd wound up on the floor and why his entire body felt like he'd been hit by a truck.  Vincent had never had Cloud's luck, chocobos had actively tried to kill him from the time he'd been born, regardless of whether he had literally demons inside of him or not. There were still distant memories of his father laughing as he tottled as fast as he could away from a very determined chocobo chick that was the same size that he was.

Why had he thought that this was a good idea, again?

Eventually, with the help of Bill reigning Cloud's bird, Vincent and Cloud were able to get back up to their feet, but that didn't stop the bird from bouncing in place and cooing at Cloud. It was rather amusing to watch it let out "kweh"s of varying pitches and Cloud parroting them back at the bird as he stepped closer to her to scratch as the feathers at the sides of her neck affectionately.

"What's her name, again?" Bill asked. "Billy's taken to raising her, so I don't see her much."

"Aeris." Cloud responded, softly. 

It was a bold faced lie, but Vincent didn't have the heart to tell Bill that the bird's  _actual name_  was asshole, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Ah, after your pretty little girlfriend." Bill laughed, and while he didn't pick up on the way that Cloud's fingers twitched, Vincent did. Vincent feared for a moment that he was going to have to step in and keep Cloud from getting upset, but instead Cloud shrugged it off.

"She's not my girlfriend. She's just a good friend." Cloud said, and he left it at that. Vincent found himself a little bit surprised that Cloud didn't expand on that any further at all, but Vincent had to assume it was because he wanted to let it lie. Perhaps they'd talk about all of that eventually, but Vincent didn't want that to be today. He didn't want for sad memories of a fallen friend to weigh heavy on them all the time-- they all moved on and mourned at their own pace.

The bird seemed to have the intuition of a psychic, and when she noticed the change in Cloud's demeanor, she went back to ruffling around in his hair, preening and chirping pleasedly before she leaned down and pinched the fabric of Cloud's shirt in her beak, tugging him forward slightly until the fabric slipped out of her beak and she took a few hops in place.

Cloud laughed, and smile lit up his face. Vincent's chest tightened at the sight, and he hissed 'no' inwardly at himself.

"Alright, girl, what is it?" Cloud took a few steps alongside the bird toward the darker part of the room. Vincent followed a couple of steps behind, so he was able to hear the low gasp that left Cloud when he spotted her nest, five little fuzzy Chocobo chicks curled up in their nest, sleeping contentedly. Vincent smiled himself this time. Cloud seemed to freeze in place for a moment, processing what he was seeing, before looking back towards Vincent with a baffled look.

"You knew?"

Vincent nodded, smiling behind his cape collar. Cloud walked across the room, kneeling down next to the colorful chicks, gently rubbing one of the chick's head, rousing it from sleep. The chick shifted, and peeped at him before getting to it's feet and waddling towards him, staring up at him with it's large eyes. This got the attention of the other chicks, who were beginning to wake up and were also starting to surround Cloud. Cloud's face was alight as he sat down on the ground and let the chicks step onto his lap and get used to him.

"They're cute." Vincent ventured.

"They're adorable, holy shit." Cloud replied, fingers of both hands scratching through the feathers of the different chicks who were nuzzling him and demanding attention. The mother bird (was it really appropriate to refer to her as asshole?) was also back to Grooming through Cloud's hair.

"They need names!" Bill laughed as well. "Your chocobo has been busy gettin' into trouble, as you can see, and I didn't figure you'd want to miss out on naming them. You can take as much time as you need with them in here, me and Billy will be just outside tending to the rest of the flock." Now with the room lit satisfactorily, Bill made himself scarce, tugging the nursery doors closed behind him and letting the two have their time to spend with the chocobos.

Cloud had a lap full of chocobos once Vincent finally settled down on the ground next to him-- half crouched because he still wasn't sure about sitting on the floor.

"I hope you've gotten better at naming chocobos." Vincent had a laugh in his voice as he spoke. Vincent could only imagine the sort of names Cloud was going to come up with now that he had five more to name, and he would almost bet all his Gil it was going to be swear words.

"Oh, you think I'm bad at naming chocobos huh?" Cloud shot him a smirk. "I'd like to see you do better."

"You named your bird asshole."

"And you didn't name your bird anything because you couldn't find one that liked you."

"You're right, but chocobos have always hated me, so I've never kept one." Vincent laughed dryly. He wasn't bitter. Cloud glanced down at the birds in his lap, as if considering his thoughts carefully. Seemingly decided, he lifted a fat, yellow one.

"I think I'm going to call this one 'some dick'." Cloud said with a finality that frankly astounded Vincent and made him sputter. He really didn't know what he expected.

"Wha--... why?" Vincent furrowed his eyebrows at the younger man, shooting him a glare.

"So I could ask you if you want some dick."

"CLOUD." Vincent's voice cracked unbecomingly and he flushed up to his ears, earning and ornery laugh from Cloud, amused at the reaction he provoked.

He really, really didn't know what he expected.

Vincent stewed for a moment while he waited for Cloud to get the laughter out of his system while he nuzzled the bird closer to his body. The bird had no idea what was happening, and Vincent was thankful for that.

"Fine, then I'm naming this one 'your heart'." Vincent snorted, lifting the smallest of the yellow chocobos despite its peeped protests and flapping. He sat it back on solid ground after just a moment, and the bird glared at him like it resented him.

Cloud crinkled his nose.

"You'd better not make a pun."

"... it's so I can steal your heart." Vincent said it with a straight face, in the most matter of fact way that he could, earning the longest groan he'd ever heard from Cloud. Cloud sat down the bird deemed some dick long enough to deliver a gentle bump of his fist against Vincent's arm halfheartedly.

"That's the worst thing I've ever heard and I've had conversations with Reeve. You really are a monster."

"I'm the worst thing Hojo ever created." Vincent conceded. There wasn't any grief left with that name, perhaps he had made some progress.

"I wouldn't go that far." Cloud replied, his tone shifted in some imperceptible way, and had Vincent been a little more attentive to the situation, he would have picked up that Cloud had meant something deeper by that.

Cloud hummed and hawed for a while before looking at the single black chick of the group for a long while. He scooped it into his arms.

"I think I know what I'm going to name this one." He admitted. Vincent perked up, shifting his focus from the chicks to Cloud once more.

"What?"

"Vincent." Cloud said. Vincent stared at him for a long moment, thinking he'd misheard. Cloud clarified; "After you."

Oh.

There was a sentiment there that he wasn't sure how to respond to. Vincent's mouth went dry for a moment, but he fought and swallowed until he was able to speak again.

"Why?"

Cloud shrugged.

"You're one of my best friends. You always seemed distant when we first met, but I've realized you care a lot in your own way." The black bird chirped sleepily, Cloud's fingers deftly rubbing through the birds feathers, lulling the chick to sleep. "You're complex and hard to read, but I'm glad that I get to know you like I do. Whether you know it or not, you've helped me. You've helped me through a lot."

"Go for Valentine instead. I'd hate to mistake you calling for the chocobo for you calling me." Vincent managed. Vincent had to duck his face down lower into the collar of his cape, losing his balance and plopping down backwards the rest of the way so that he was sitting on the floor of the stable. He tried to put on his usual mask of antipathy, but he was worrying his lower lip flusteredly behind the shield of his collar.

God he could feel the feelings sparking wildly at that moment, realizing how complex and intricate Cloud was and the realization that he was so deeply appreciated in return stirred up a lot of feelings he'd felt before. A lot of feelings he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with again just yet.

He was starting to think that he really was falling in love with Cloud.

God that thought really, really scared him though. He didn't want to lose Cloud in the same way he'd lost Lucretia, he didn't think he'd be able to handle it. He'd watched things crash and burn, and on some deep level he knew that he still blamed himself for it, if for no reason other than inaction. (Of course, when he had tried to take action, he'd nearly been killed for it.) Not to mention that there was a lot more between Cloud, there was a history of friendship that he hadn't necessarily had with Lucretia when they'd started their relationship, and by the time it ended, who knew. Vincent was still hung up on a lot, and he wanted to make sure that none of that was going to get in the way if he ever decided that he did want to act on these feelings.

Maybe some part of him still really genuinely hoped that he wouldn't have to. Some part hoped that these feelings would fade and die away, so he didn't drive himself crazy thinking about it. He'd overthought romance for ages-- every relationship he'd ever been in, before Cloud, before Lucretia, from the beginning.

To some it might have been sad to think about just letting those feelings die, but Vincent was almost entirely sure that he could be just as happy to just live his life with Cloud as a friend. He would be no more or less fulfilled if he saw that Cloud was happy regardless of if they were together, it wasn't easy to put into words. He just wanted his friend to be happy, he wanted to see him to succeed and thrive in the way that Vincent thought that he deserved, whether Vincent was a part of that eventuality or not. He wanted to see Cloud succeed, he wanted to see him smile that easy, breathtaking smile and laugh that bubbly laugh that made his heart flutter.

God damn it, he was in deep and it was only making the feelings worse the more he thought about it. He had to swallow another lump in his throat, and he thanked the powers that be for the fact that Cloud had begun to play with the chicks and distracted himself, but that didn't stop the urge that Vincent was feeling to tug his friend into a hug and hold him for as long as he would allow.

He didn't do it, though. It wasn't the right time, the chicks were still on his lap and Vincent didn't want to dump them to the floor. Plus they hadn't talked about this. Plus he didn't know if Cloud even felt the same way about him.

Vincent could come up with a million excuses, it was almost like it was his superpower.

"Vincent."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." Cloud started. He paused for so long that Vincent wondered if he was going to expand on that. "I'm glad you're here. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be the same person if I hadn't met you."

"You're being awfully sappy today." Vincent said, and immediately he wished that he could take it back.  _God dammit Vincent, you fucking idiot._  Cloud's face fell slightly, and Vincent felt his heart sink. This was the exact reason that he wouldn't let himself act on these feelings, he had less tact than a Shinra soldier at an Avalanche meeting.

Thank the gods that Cloud took it in stride.

"Well not  _all_  of us can be emotionally constipated twenty-four seven, Vincent." Cloud rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to tell you that I you're special to me and this is how you treat me?"

_Not all of us know how to tell you that you're important to them too._

"I'm cold, remember?"

"You're cold but that was fucking frigid."

"You were trying to melt my icy heart."

"Oh my god, no, not this again." Cloud groaned again. "Did you plan that too, you jerk?"

"Yes."  _Not at all._  Vincent was glad to see Cloud smiling again, and it seemed that he wasn't going to keep pressing him on it. Cloud looked down at the last two birds, humming.

"I'm all out of names... do you have any ideas, Vin?" Vincent opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off almost immediately. " _Not Lucretia_."

Vincent closed his mouth.

\---

It took them a long while to finally settle on the names for the chocobo chicks, vetoing the swear words and finally agreeing that if they were going to name one after their group of friends, they should name the rest after them as well. The four yellow ones, now named Red, Barry, Tiffy and Cid (because they couldn't think of a cutesy nickname for Cid) and the single black bird named Val were sleeping contentedly while Cloud curled up next to Aeris, grooming her feathers as he and Vincent spoke.

"Think Yuffie's going to be upset that we didn't name one after her?" Cloud asked. Vincent smirked.

"I think she's still a baby chocobo herself." Vincent replied, earning a laugh.

"You're right, I think she'd be more upset that you just called her a baby."

"As I recall, she's not too fond of chocobos herself. She still has some pretty bad motion sickness." Vincent's speech was low, he was more focused on watching Cloud grooming the bird. "I don't think I'll ever understand how you get the bird to be so calm around you. They always pull my hair."

Cloud glanced over at him from where he was, but he shook his head.

"You just approach them the wrong way. You have to speak a language they understand." Cloud stated, though Vincent's confusion must have shown on his face. "Come here, I can show you." Vincent blinked slowly, shifting up to his knees and shuffling a little closer. "Let her see you for a second, she doesn't know you so well."

Vincent doubted that this would work, there was no way that in his fifty years of life that he'd just been going about this the wrong way, he was never trying to threaten the birds when he approached them. The massive, golden bird perked up, lifting it's head and tilting it's head slightly before it leaned a little closer, examining him.

"Reach your hand out carefully. Make sure she sees it, and go slow." Cloud instructed. He'd shifted a little to scoot a little closer to Vincent. "She likes being petted, so she's probably going to get excited." Vincent did as he was told, sticking his hand out as slowly and as relaxedly as he could. She hesitated, then leaned in a little closer, nuzzling the tip of her beak gently against his hand. Vincent was almost in disbelief, he'd never had one of the birds actually try to get him to pet it. "Good. See, she wants you to pet her. Touch her beak first, and pull your hands towards yourself as you do. They don't like to be petted like a cat does."

Vincent hesitated. He was either going to get to pet a chocobo or he was going to get his last flesh arm snapped in half by a big bird. She nuzzled insistently, and Vincent slowly traced his fingers down along her beak. She made a soft chittering noise, letting her eyes close slightly as she relaxed into the touch.

"Good. She wants you to touch her head. Go for her cheek or around her beak, that way she can still see your hands. Stick around there until she relaxes around you. You'll know it because she's going to start to fall asleep." Cloud chuckled. Watching Vincent be so timid around the big bird was charming. Vincent eased his fingers into her feathers, rubbing against the grain of the feathers in the correct way.

"She's... soft." Vincent said, genuinely surprised. Cloud laughed again, shifting even closer as he reached his fingers under her chin to rub at her neck, earning more of the little chittering noises.

"She likes you. Probably good that she does, it would be pretty awkward if my bird didn't like the same people I did." Cloud had a voice like he had a very soft smile that make Vincent's stomach do little flips.

"I'm glad. I'd be distraught if my best friend's bird didn't like me." Vincent's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but there was a wide smile on his face. The prospect of getting to touch a chocobo without being maimed actually had him feeling giddy, so giddy that he was ignoring the fact that Cloud was nearly spooning him to reach his chocobo. It was probably a good thing that he was, because it saved him from embarrassing himself. Vincent relished in the feeling of her feathers under his fingers as she tittered contentedly. He could hardly believe that he was touching a chocobo, it was so soft, and hard to believe that these were the same creatures that had terrified him as a child. She nuzzled against his fingers insistently while Cloud stroked under her beak. Cloud had wrapped an arm around Vincent's waist at some point, and urged Vincent to follow as he shifted back closer to Aeris, leaning back against her feathered body. Vincent hesitated, holding his ground.

"She's... not going to attack me is she?" his voice belied his apprehension, he'd gotten over his fears of he birds, but that didn't mean he was particularly excited to be pecked at.

"Don't be silly, Vin, she's been trained to have people ride her. She's not going to get upset if you lay against her." Cloud comforted, waving a hand and urging Vincent over towards him as he sunk backwards against the bird and got comfortable against her side. Vincent hesitated for another moment, but finally shifted forward with a cautious eye on Aeris as she tilted her head at him. He eventually settled next to Cloud with his back against the bird. She kept her eyes on him for a moment, her expression looked.... curious? Vincent really couldn't tell how she was feeling, but Cloud was also keeping an eye on her, so Vincent doubted that she was angry.

"She likes you." Cloud reiterated.

Vincent took his eyes off of her as Cloud spoke, turning his head to pay attention to him speaking. Vincent nodded, hoping Cloud was right. It was only another couple of seconds before he was flooded with a rush of panic as he felt the feeling of her nosing her beak into his hair and opening her mouth, and he braced himself to have his hair pulled again. Cloud seemed to realize that he was getting ready to try and bolt away from her and placed a gentle hand on his knee, squeezing.

"Vin, wait." he said. Vincent winced, letting his eyes shut and stilling himself, focusing on Cloud's hand. Steady on his leg. The beak in his hair nudged through his hair, gripping a small bit of hair and gently pulling through it, tugging it free of the ribbon holding his hair gathered together. She then switched to another small section, easing through it. Vincent slowly opened his eyes, glancing at Cloud. His shoulders relaxed, but he was doing his best to give a questioning look to his friend. Cloud smiled affectionately. "She's preening you."

Vincent's thoughts jumped back to when they'd first arrived and the bird had been messing around in Cloud's hair the way that she had.

"Is your bird trying to tell me I need to bathe?" Vincent asked, relaxing further, knowing that she wasn't trying to tear his hair out the way that some chocobos did.

"She's trying to tell you that she thinks you're a good person." Cloud laughed. "She loves to be scratched, and she loves to scratch back." Cloud smiled, nuzzling back into her feathers and closing his eyes, opening his arms and making a grabbing motion in Vincent's direction. How demanding.

Good thing Vincent was willing to accommodate. He leaned against the bird, allowing Cloud to tug him against his body. The position was awkward because they were laying face to face, and now Vincent was a hair's breadth away from Cloud's face and he felt a little like Cloud was trying to squeeze the life out of him like a boa constrictor, but it sent a warm, contented feeling through his body. Vincent could still feel Aeris tugging through small pieces of his hair for a few more moments before she settled, curling up on herself and drifting off to sleep.

Vincent was letting Cloud squeeze him closer to his body, feeling the urge to close the rest of the gap between them, wanting to kiss him, be it on the mouth or the forehead. He mentally scolded himself again as he draped his own arm over Cloud, letting the metal prosthetic fall limp between them. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the feeling of Cloud's breath, warm against his face.

He thought for a long time that Cloud was asleep, but he was finally keyed into his state of wakefulness when he felt the gentle movement of Cloud's hand, toying with the fabric of his cloak just behind the small of his back, as if he was restraining himself from actually touching Vincent.

"What was that earlier about 'grumbling about being tired'?" Vincent asked with a smile, though he didn't open his eyes. He probably could have fallen asleep there, if he really wanted to. It was pleasant and warm, and he was being held by the one person that he most wanted to be.

Cloud hummed, sleepily, shifting his hand and smoothing over Vincent's back finally, pulling him just a smidgen closer and sending a chill up Vincent's spine.

"'s hard to nap when you're talking. I figured you'd jump at the chance to get a little more sleep after this morning." Cloud's voice made it sound like he was beaming, and it only served to fluster Vincent more. He opened his eyes, wanting to see that smile and managing to catch it.

Cloud still had his eyes closed, but for once he actually looked his age, his mouth was pulled up into an easy smile and he looked like he'd had a solid night's sleep. The worry lines weren't so visible right now, his eyes were still closed but if they had been open, Vincent was almost sure he'd look breath taking. Vincent wondered briefly if Cloud would be offended to know that he was being looked at when he was on the verge of sleep like this.

"I suppose I could go for some sleep." Vincent mused, though sleep was probably the furthest thing from his mind. Cloud's smile had faded, but his lips quirked up at that. The younger man seemed to plan a retort, but the sound died as a sleepy hum in his mouth and a gentle tilt of his head.

It wasn't until the sound had left him that Vincent realized that he'd let out a dreamy sigh at that. That was the most embarrassing thing that he'd done all day.

God he had it bad. He needed to stop this before he really, really did wind up humiliating himself.

Cloud fell asleep in his arms, but Vincent found that he wasn't able to sleep at all.

\---

Vincent had tried to actually get to rest for about an hour, though no matter whether he turned his back to Cloud or not, he kept finding himself looking at his friend as he slept. He was starting to creep himself out, so he decided that fresh air was probably for the best for him. He realized that he didn't even know what time it was, so he slipped out of the barn as quietly as he could. It was so bright outside the Vincent winced at the brightness, lifting his hand and shielding his eyes from the light as he glanced around.

"The smell get to you?" Choco Bill asked, and Vincent glanced in his direction, sitting at a weather-worn table in the shade of the barn.

"No. Cloud fell asleep snuggled up next to his bird and her chicks. It felt a little inappropriate to stick around." Vincent spoke, hoping that it wasn't admitting too much.

"Surprises me." Bill said, taking a sip of whatever it was he was drinking. Vincent guessed it was coffee, but all he could smell was chocobo shit. "Coffee?" he offered.

"That would be lovely." Vincent responded, stepping over and taking a seat across from Bill. He stood for just a moment, fetching another cup for Vincent and pouring a cup of the strong drink for him. He passed it across the table, the ceramic scraping across the wood and splattering a little onto the tabletop. Vincent nodded in thanks, lifting the cup to his lips and gratefully sucking in a little of the liquid, relishing in the bitterness. He didn't drink it as often as he used to, but he still loved it. He sorely missed Tifa, she knew how to brew a killer cup of coffee.

"You know, I would have expected you and Cloud would have wanted to enjoy more time with the birds." Bill ventured.

"Hmm?"

"I mean, I figured you two would need the privacy."

"How so?" Vincent was nursing his cup of coffee gratefully, not realizing where this conversation was heading.

"I mean, it's not every day that someone invites another young man to the ranch. I just figured the two of you would need some more time to have your fun."

Vincent inhaled sharply, realization hitting him like a ton of bricks, sending burning hot coffee down the wrong pipe. He was left coughing and red in the face.

"Excuse me?" Vincent sputtered. "I'm sorry?" Of all of the people who he'd expected to confront him on this, he didn't expect it to be Bill. Tifa or Reeve, yes, but Bill? And so bluntly too!

Bill's eyebrows shot up high enough to touch his hairline.

"You're not together? Sorry for assuming. It wouldn't be the first time that I've had a couple come to the ranch for their alone time, though." Bill chuckled. "It was an honest mistake, I saw you two holding hands this morning and I guess I just filled in the blanks where there wasn't any to fill in."

Vincent stared at him blankly for a long, long moment, trying to sort through that in his head. They looked like a couple too? Or was that just Vincent being overbearing on Cloud? He hadn't been the one to link their hands, but it seemed like it must have been pretty obvious on his face how he was feeling towards Cloud. Perhaps he was adding to why Cloud had been so tense, considering that Vincent had been dancing around it. Or perhaps the feelings were returned?

Vincent needed time to parse this line of thought away from all of this.

"I'm not upset, I just wasn't aware that it was... that it had appeared that way." Vincent murmured, shifting his gaze away and hunkering down into his cape collar with the mug pulled closer to his face to try and hide the color in his cheeks.

"I feel like that's probably something you're not looking to talk about." Bill's voice was softer. " He took another sip on his coffee. "It is nice to see you two again. I hear that you have been having sort of a hard time."

Vincent nodded without thinking. He was so used to saying that his friends were having a bad time that he acted on it without thought. They were easily in the best condition that they had been for a long while, but it was a habit at this point.

"You brought up Aeris earlier... she." Vincent hesitated, it still felt wrong to talk about it. Aeris had been vibrant and full of life, it was hard to believe how quickly she'd been snuffed out. "She's...."

"She's died." Bill finished. "I'm aware. I haven't heard much about it, but I know that much. It's a shame, she had a lot of life left."

"Yes." Vincent stared down at his cup of coffee for a long while. "She was murdered. It's a bit of a relief to hear that you already know. It's still hard to relive it, especially for Cloud. I think... I think he blamed himself for a long time. He still may. I'm not sure."

Bill hummed.

"I don't think he should. This world is cruel. If it would help, though, we'd be happy to have him help around the ranch. It might help to get him out of the house."  Bill offered.

Vincent nodded.

"It might help him to have somewhere to fall back to when he gets stressed. He really loves chocobos. He spent enough time breeding them."

"That's right. I think he just might be better friends with Billy and Chloe than I am." Bill laughed.

It was easy, shallow conversation between the two of them. It wasn't too demanding, it wasn't too difficult. The spoke about Bill's life, how Chole was studying under the chocobo sage, how the ranch was doing, and in turn Vincent gave vague cues about how his life had been. (Fairly boring, in short.)

\---

Cloud finally woke up at about two in the afternoon, and after an appropriate amount of teasing about how late he slept, he and Vincent spent a little more time with the birds in preparation to leave. Cloud was gently grooming his bird and her chicks, and feeding them by hand.

"Bill offered to let you come back, you know. You'll get to see her again." Vincent was leaned against the wall of the nursery. He wished to take no part in feeding the chicks, he'd already risked his fingers enough today with petting the chocobos and laying down next to them.

"Yeah, but I still work, Vincent. I won't get to see her everyday no matter what I do. I can't just live on a farm." Cloud explained it, sounding a little bit miffed that Vincent was even bringing it up.

"Why not? You love them, and it's not exactly like you're struggling for money."

"That's not why Vincent. I live in Edge because that's where I need to be. I need to be able to help the people there who need me. The delivery jobs let me do that as well-- just in other places."

"You could live with me in Kalm. They won't mind the chocobos." Vincent said it before he'd fully thought it through, and Cloud paused in what he was doing long enough to shoot him a glare. Or at least Vincent perceived it as a glare.

"Vincent." Cloud's voice was even, and Vincent feared that he was angry. He looked at him like he was searching for something, and Vincent felt his body stiffen. "If you're just offering that to try and appease me about not seeing my chocobos, the answer is no. I wouldn't want there to be any ulterior motives for it, you're my friend. I'd want for... that's not the point right now, never mind."

"Then come back and visit with me." Cloud stopped what he was doing, looking over to Vincent again, searching.

"Vincent?"

"Yes, Cloud?"

"Why are you being so insistent on this?" Cloud sounded like he was shaken. Vincent stared at him blankly for a while, debating with himself if he should answer the question honestly or not.

"It makes you happy." he eventually settled on just saying as much and leaving it as that. Cloud could take that to mean what he wanted. Cloud opened his mouth like he was going to say something, and then he closed it and turned his attention back to feeding the birds, though Vincent didn't miss the flustered look on his face.

"And you talk about me being a sap." Cloud muttered it, but Vincent picked up on it anyway. Cloud was quiet for a long time, but it wasn't a tense silence, like it had been. Vincent got a bit closer to him, extending a hand cautiously out towards the chocobo chicks, which had begun to tumble over one another in play. The chicks peeped, but a couple of them waddled towards him, letting him scratch their heads gently. Cloud seemed to lose focus on what he was doing, glancing over at Vincent intermittently, but Vincent didn't comment on it. "I... I was happy because you are here too. I enjoy spending the time with you. It's good to see that you're starting to enjoy yourself. There was a while there where me and Tifa didn't think you were ever going to want to do anything but sleep, we thought you'd just stick along for the ride because you felt obligated, and then you'd be on your way back to Nibelheim to sleep."

"I hope you realized that I genuinely do like the two of you. I'm not just getting drug around by you two, honestly." Vincent mumbled, wondering if this was heading back in the same direction of Cloud calling him cold.

"I never said I still felt that way, I know more about you now. I know how important your friends are to you even if you don't necessarily have the best way of showing it." Cloud's tone was... affectionate. Vincent felt his heart skip a beat, and he involuntarily sighed. "I know you better now. I feel differently, you're actually much less intimidating that you look. And you care more than you look like you would too. You're a lot less intimidating sexy vampire and a lot more anxious tall softy."

Vincent snorted.

"Well at least I was looking sexy at some point."

"You didn't stop. I just see through it now." Cloud laughed. Vincent tried not to overthink that, but he was still rather flattered. "You're an anxious sexy vampire. I think I'm going to swoon."

" _I'm_   _not a vampire_." Vincent managed, trying to stifle a laugh. 

"You sure? You look like one. How are you going to be a sexy vampire without the vampire part?"

Was Cloud hitting on him? It felt like he was getting hit on.

"And you're any better? You have enough gel in your hair that you could stab someone with it if you're not careful."

"Hm, I don't know, for it being as crunchy as you say it is, you sure do like to touch it when we nap together."

"And it's just as edgy as you are."

"Hey!"

\---

They had said their farewells to Choco Bill and Billy, as well as the birds as it was starting to get to be evening, and the both of them knew that it was dangerous to travel at night because of the monsters that were still roaming around with mako enhancements. They were both very capable of fighting if they needed to, but neither of them particularly felt much like fighting, their moods were too high.

Cloud was walking alongside Vincent, closer than usual, and he had a wide smile on his face that had him rubbing his cheeks. Vincent was satisfied to see it, and was hiding his own smile in the collar of his cloak. They were getting close to Fenrir, contented with being able to come back to see the bird and it's chicks as they grew.

Vincent thought of the small black chick that Cloud had named after him, and felt a quick flush cross his cheeks. He was flattered, but he didn't know how to show gratitude for it towards Cloud. They were finally at Fenrir before the color faded back out of Vincent's cheeks.

"Vin." Cloud's voice was so soft that Vincent almost didn't hear him, though it didn't take Cloud long to get closer to him. Even closer to him than before, to the point where it was almost a breech of personal space, though it really didn't bother Vincent. He knew he wouldn't let most other people get this close to him, but Cloud wasn't most people in his mind. "I, Uh. Thanks for today. It was a really nice surprise. I needed it."

Vincent nodded, not feeling like he needed to say anything to it-- if he was supposed to say something, he wasn't sure what it was. He felt like he should say something though, and he had a pretty good idea of what that was. It was about all of the thoughts he'd been ignoring, about what exactly they were, and about how he was feeling, but he knew the moment he opened his mouth the words were going to die. He wasn't ready to talk about it yet. He wasn't ready to take that step, and he didn't know if Cloud was even in the same boat, though he got the impression that he was.

Cloud stepped even closer, and this was what made Vincent feel a little more nervous, though he tried not to let it show on his face. He knew that it was entirely the fault of these dangerous, stupid feelings he was feeling.

"Sometimes I think you might know me better than I know myself." Cloud said, his voice had dropped, low and husky, and he was looking at Vincent with an expression that he couldn't quite place. He could feel heat creeping up his neck, and he scolded himself within his head, knowing that this wasn't the time to be flustered. He'd either make Cloud feel awkward or he'd wind up getting relentlessly teased for it.

"Sometimes I feel the same way about you." That was a lot more than Vincent had meant to admit. 

Closer. Vincent was standing with his back towards Fenrir and Cloud had both of his hand placed palms open against the Bike, the difference between Vincent's 6' and Cloud's 5'7" was especially clear now. They were looking at each other silently for a moment of indecision before Cloud actually reached up, easing Vincent's cloak collar down and tilting his head slightly.

"So you can blush?" Cloud laughed, and it was laced with a palatable affection that made Vincent simultaneously want to accept the comment but also want to run away as fast as he could before his feelings could take too strong of a root and someone got hurt.

That someone was Cloud, though. Vincent had a hard time believing that Cloud meant for this to hurt them. Cloud was no saint, but he knew what it felt like to isolate himself and to have the uncertainty of what was coming next, the uncertainty that there was still going to be that person you cared about in your life. He'd felt what it was like to have people revile him.

"Yeah." Vincent laughed awkwardly, though it was more of a squawk than anything else. "I can." Cloud hummed warmly, still smiling, though much calmer, and his expression seemed like he was reflecting. Vincent felt a rush of anxiousness as he leaned in even closer towards him, moving to close the gap between him. He had to steel his resolve and root himself to the spot to keep himself from wanting to run before something went wrong and he fucked up everything horrendously.

It turned out, however, it was pretty easy to pick up into the kiss once Cloud took the lead. Cloud's hands slid from the fabric of his cloak to Vincent's neck, not threatening in the slightest, but it was comforting and it was all it really took to make Vincent relax and kiss back. Vincent hummed lowly, and he felt Cloud smile against his lips, Cloud had apparently taken that as encouragement because he stepped in, pulling them flush together and looping his arm around Vincent's waist. It was soft, it wasn't caging. Vincent hummed again, feeling all of his blood rushing to his face and making him feel a little bit dizzy. He didn't know what to do with his own hands, so he rested his hands on Fenrir and placed a little more weight onto the bike to try and keep his balance.

Vincent could tell that he wasn't kissing back very well because of his nerves at about the time when Cloud chuckled against his lips, easing back a little, but only enough that their lips still brushed when he spoke.

"Vincent." Cloud said. It felt like ages between that and when he leaned in and kissed him again, Vincent felt Cloud's hand ball up around the fabric of his cloak then release, and it was a familiar quirk of his when he was feeling stressed. "Vincent, please, if you want me to stop, just say so. You're so tense."

"No." Vincent's response was nearly instant, and his hands shot forward, though he didn't know what to do with them still-- so he just sort of hover-handed awkwardly. "Cloud..." He didn't know what to say either.

Eventually Cloud reached up and tugged Vincent back down in for another kiss, easing his worries. Vincent sighed, contently, glad that he wasn't being expected to control this, in all honesty if he was he'd probably have bailed already. Not that it wasn't nice, but he was almost entirely at a loss at how to go about it. (Maybe not entirely, but Cloud and Lucretia were two vastly different kinds of people, and she'd been in control of that situation as well.)

Cloud's hands found their way to Vincent's hair, to the ponytail he'd pulled it up into, and wove his hands into the hair at the base of his skull, tugging gently as he pulled the tie out of his hair, running his fingers through hair. Vincent's breathing was shaky, and he felt a little bit like he was going to die, but in a good way. Cloud's free hand shifted, cupping high on his hip and squeezing. There was a tilt of his head, and he eased Vincent's mouth open, deepening the kiss slowly, in no real rush. Vincent sighed, feeling the tension in his body easing, letting him being guided through it. Cloud seemed content to take control, tugging on his hair and squeezing his hip and pressing their bodies as close as they could.

It felt like it was a long, long time that they were kissing, though Vincent couldn't be sure if that was because his head was still spinning or not. Cloud's face was splotchy and red, and Vincent was sure that he didn't look any better, Especially with the way Cloud had been gripping his hair and squeezing his hip, accidentally rucking up his shirt in the process. Clearly they were both flustered and disheveled.

"Errm." Cloud started, glancing off to the side, rubbing at his neck and taking a few steps back away. "We. We should get out of here and talk about this later."

"Agreed."

They loaded awkwardly onto Fenrir, Vincent hesitating about putting his arms around Cloud again, but Cloud stared at him expectantly until Vincent had a secure grip on him. Vincent wasn't able to sleep on this ride, though, his mind was too busy racing through what had just happened.

Positive things, Cloud had been the one to initiate, and he'd taken the lead, so Vincent hadn't needed to worry too much about trying to get past his wall of fears. Plus he'd reciprocated, though he kind of sucked at it. And he'd pretty much stood there awkwardly the whole time, to the point that Cloud had thought that he hadn't wanted to be kissed. Plus he was pretty sure that he was supposed to have been holding Cloud or  _something_ , but instead he'd just sort of sat there, too afraid to do anything with his hands.

And, a massive downside, there were still no more answers than before about what they were. Vincent knew now that Cloud reciprocated his feelings in some manner, but they hadn't talked still, and Vincent still didn't think he was going to be able to easily be affectionate with Cloud without dying a little inside because of his own history.

Vincent groaned at himself, letting his head fall forward to rest on Cloud's back, sighing. This was only getting more complicated from here, wasn't it?

\---

Cloud stepped off the bike first, pulling himself loose of Vincent's grip, but Vincent didn't move, sitting there and staring off into space. Cloud waited for a second, wanting for him to say something first, but it was clear that Vincent was in his head again.

"Vincent." Cloud said it, but he didn't even know what he was planning on saying, honestly. It hadn't been his intention to make it awkward between them, it had been the heat of the moment and he was so sick of dancing around each other like this. Cloud had known that Vincent was feeling something towards him-- or at least, he'd been pretty sure, so watching him try and avoid it for so long was really starting to irritate him. He was so ready to for this to move forward, to be able to be comfortable and affectionate with Vincent as much as he was allowed, not having to pace himself out so that he didn't come off as overbearing.

Vincent was slow to look at Cloud, but Cloud was patient. Not the most patient, but he could he patient for Vincent. Especially with as lost as he looked. Cloud's heart ached at the sight, and he wondered what was going through his head. He had to be worried about this, Cloud had always figured if they took this step that he would be.

"Can we please talk?" Cloud surprised himself with how small his voice was. He had his own apprehensions but he hadn't expected for them to hit him quite so hard as they were.

"About?" Vincent ventured, and while Cloud knew he wasn't trying to get under his skin, Vincent's trend toward apathy when he didn't want to process things was really beginning to irritate Cloud.

"Don't play dumb with me Vin, about what just happened."

It seemed to take Vincent by surprise. He started to say something and stopped himself a few times before he actually managed to form words.

"I wasn't aware the feelings were mutual." Vincent offered, looking a little bit like a deer caught in headlights. Cloud wanted to glare, because that wasn't going to do anything to push them past their weird wall between them, but he felt himself softening.

"You must be blind then."

"I'm not. I just thought I was misunderstanding what you wanted." Vincent sounded sheepish. "I don't know what to do about it."

"You could have talked to me about it. You know I wouldn't judge you for it. You've already told me you've had feelings towards other men before."

"You're not other men. You're a friend, and a close one at that." Vincent's tone was slightly more heated, as if Cloud should have known to differentiate himself from the people had dated in the past. "I've never felt this way towards a friend before, I've been told its a bad idea to date friends because those sorts of relationships end badly."

"So your solution was to hole up and stew about it?" Cloud was frustrated, if there was any downside to Vincent is was that he always wanted to deal with things on his own even when it didn't just affect him.

"Then why didn't you say something either?" Vincent's tone was entirely accusatory.

"Because your as flightier than a damn chocobo." Cloud sighed. "If I had said something, you're telling me you wouldn't have ran for the hills as fast as you could?" Vincent clammed up at that, sighing heavily and shifting off of fenrir, avoiding eye contact with Cloud.

"I was frightened, Cloud. I don't know what I would have done if I had chased you away."

Cloud sighed, rubbing at his forehead, preempting his headache, the tension that he'd been feeling earlier in the morning had returned, tightening up his shoulder and back.

"No, Vincent... I wasn't trying to stress you out either. I just wanted... I'm kind of in love with you and it's been frustrating me for a long time." Cloud sighed, but what he said seemed to catch Vincent's attention.

"Did you just say that you're in love with me?' Vincent asked, looking at Cloud in a way that made him feel like Vincent was trying to read something in him. Like he was trying to take away some deeper meaning from that.

Cloud's fair skin light up bright red when he blushed, and he crossed his arms, gripping his arms. Was Vincent really asking him to repeat himself?

"You heard what I said." Cloud insisted. He didn't know if he could repeat himself. He'd said it because he hadn't been thinking about it when he'd said it. It wasn't that the sentiment wasn't true, it just felt like that may have been a bit too strong of a way to word it right now.

"Please."

Cloud was a little taken aback by the tone of Vincent's voice, it sounded unsure. Needy. Cloud looked back up at Vincent, wondering if he was feeling as shaky as he was right now. Vincent took a step towards him, still giving him that searching look.

"I said I'm kind of in love with you." It took Cloud a minute to actually get the words out of his mouth. He hated feeling embarrassed like this, how frustrating it was to fumble with his words. He could only feel the feeling intensifying as Vincent got closer. He jumped a little when he felt Vincent gently cupping his chin with his hand. Cloud could feel the very slight warmth through his glove and pressed into it softly, glancing up at him and waiting for Vincent to move. Cloud could tell he was nervous because he could hear him trying to swallow the lumping his throat.

"I think I love you too." Vincent spoke hushedly, and Cloud relaxed slightly into the touch pressed against the side of his face a little more. The tension that had settled into Cloud had dissipated at hearing that.

"Well, are you going to kiss me or what?" Cloud laughed, though it was sort of stilted.

"I was sort of hoping you'd start." Vincent murmured, and as close as they were Cloud could see the shift of his features signifying a smile.

"Hmm. Just this once. You're going to have to learn to start things on your own, though." Cloud smiled in return.

Cloud reached up, tugging open the clasp on Vincent's cloak, decidedly sick of it getting in his way when he was trying to reach his friend's face. Once the fabric had slackened away from Vincent's mouth, Cloud was tugging him down closer and pressing their lips together. Vincent grunted, seemingly sated with the rough press of their faces together, and instead of keeping his distance like he had the time before, this time, Vincent gently stroked his hand across Cloud's chin and his other arm looped around him.

Cloud hummed, pleased, feeling a rush of warmth through himself but it made him feel at ease. He was a little surprised at Vincent's willingness to touch him this time, but it wasn't a bad thing. Cloud shifted in closer until he was snug against him, seeking the warmth of Vincent's body.

"I... I uh, I don't mean to be interrupting the two of you, but uh, I've got a message for Vincent from the WRO."

Cloud wondered in that moment if it was illegal to wring the neck of a robotic cat. He sighed, pulling back away from Vincent slowly and sighing, looking down at his feet. He could feel how hot Vincent's face was from here. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, and took a couple of steps away from Vincent. Vincent turned to face the small cat robot who, as Vincent was learning, had been programmed to be able to look scandalized.

"Reeve, is now really appropriate?" Vincent asked shortly.

"You can pull your head out of the clouds long enough to talk to me."

Cloud audibly groaned.

\---

Cloud had settled into Vincent's apartment, relaxing on his couch while he and Reeve's puppet conversed about whatever the WRO was up to at the moment. He wasn't paying all that much attention to their chatter, trying to sort out his thoughts and feelings towards Vincent in the meantime. He couldn't have even said for sure how long he'd been there, he may have fallen asleep while they were chattering at each other in jargon that he hadn't bothered to keep up on. It wasn't that he didn't care about what Reeve was doing, he was doing a lot of good, he just had a hard time following all of the terminology for it. He'd help where he could, but he did try to focus on his own life.

By the time the little cat avatar had made himself scarce, it was starting to get dark out, and Cloud stirred back out of his half-sleep when Vincent sat down at his feet at the far end of the couch.

"I'm sorry that we were interrupted." Vincent sounded sheepish. Cloud didn't blame him, Reeve always had bad timing. "Are you still planning to drive home? It's getting late. I know it still gets pretty dangerous on the roads at night with the prowling monsters."

"I could drive."

"Are you sure? You could stay here. I'd... I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if you got hurt on your way home."

"Mm. It would give us a chance to talk, too." Cloud agreed. "But I'd rather just curl up next to you and sleep. There will be plenty of time to talk as much as we want tomorrow." Cloud laughed, opening his arms wide and making the same gripping motion that he had earlier in the day. Vincent laughed, humming his response and laying down with his back pressed against Cloud where he'd been signalling for him to lay.

"We're not moving to the bed?" It was surprisingly easy for Vincent to take the position next to Cloud after the events of the day that had pulled them in so many different directions.

"You couldn't pay me to move." Cloud sighed, running his fingers through Vincent's hair.

"I could carry you."

"Not on your life." Cloud tugged Vincent close to him, kissing his temple. Vincent curled up against him like a big cat, making himself comfortable. Vincent traced his fingers gently along the back of Cloud's hand that was placed across his waist, realizing how easy it was to relax his muscles up against Cloud.

"Before we sleep..."

"Yes, Vin?"

"Are we... are we a couple now?" The words were a little apprehensive, but Cloud chuckled easily at it, squeezing Vincent closer.

"Yes, Vin."

"Good."

It wasn't quite the long, talked out resolution that Vincent or Cloud had expected, but it was comfortable. They would still talk, but they could pace themselves. It was strange, and domestic, but it felt indescribably nice. Like a massive weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

Neither of them struggled to sleep that night, knowing they would be able to talk in the morning in spite of the kinks in their necks from sleeping on the couch.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow my second longest fic that I've posted and it's a oneshot. Hard to believe that it's almost as long as that seven chapter fic! *sweats* Slow burn and nice, though. Plus it's a good sign that I've had quite a bit more practice since I wrote that one about a year ago. Hopefully the quality is quite a bit better as well!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! Comments are greatly appreciated, and you can always check out my tumblr for writing updates @whimsysfics. Plus, if you'd like to request a drabble or headcanons feel free to!


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